The present invention relates to a process and to a device for avoiding fraud in a taxi equipped with a taximeter of extractable type.
Generally, a taximeter is an apparatus whose object is to indicate the price to be paid for a journey made by the taxi, this price depending on several parameters, including, inter alia, the distance covered by the taxi, i.e., finally, the number of wheel revolutions made by this vehicle during the journey.
The sensor used for measuring this number of wheel revolutions is the sensor normally associated with the dashboard of the vehicle and therefore connected to the meter which indicates both the instantaneous speed of this vehicle and the mileage covered thereby.
Virtually all modern vehicles are equipped with an electromagnetic or electronic sensor for detecting the number of wheel revolutions, called xe2x80x9celectronic sensorxe2x80x9d, which may for example be provided at the gear box and which is equipped with an output connector on which is connected a cable which collects and conveys the electric pulses representative of the number of wheel revolutions to a speedometer with which the dashboard is equipped. The dashboard is in that case conventionally equipped with an auxiliary output which is electrically connected in parallel on this cable, and on which is connected the corresponding input of the taximeter: the pulses which are conveyed on this cable therefore supply the speedometer of the vehicle and the taximeter simultaneously.
The installation of a taximeter consists, inter alia, in parameterizing it as a function of multiple data, such as the tariff to be applied, as well as the specific characteristics of the vehicle on which this taximeter is to be installed, and in mounting this taximeter on this vehicle. The characteristics specific to the vehicle are represented by the xe2x80x9ccharacteristic coefficientxe2x80x9d K which is different from one vehicle to the other.
Parameterizing is effected by the Weights and Measures Department, after which this official Service puts a seal on the taximeter and the parameterizing can no longer be altered by any one.
In numerous countries, to avoid theft or acts of vandalism, the taximeter is extractable and it is removed every evening, then replaced the next morning, by the driver of the vehicle.
Unfortunately, this gives the drivers and taxi companies the possibility of cheating by removing the taximeter from one vehicle and connecting it on another taxi, which is easy, for example, for a taxi company owning several vehicles.
As the taximeter is calibrated as a function of the number of pulses per kilometer and as this number of pulses per kilometer is a function of the characteristics specific to the vehicle, it is possible, by connecting a taximeter in a vehicle other than the one for which it is calibrated, to obtain on this other vehicle a larger number of pulses per kilometer. For this other vehicle, a higher price than what is due for each journey will thus be charged.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome this drawback.
To that end, it relates to a process for avoiding fraud in a taxi equipped with a taximeter of extractable type, by preventing this extractable taximeter from being used on another taxi, characterized in that it consists in providing on each taxi receiving an extractable taximeter, a circuit memory which contains data identifying the taximeter when the latter is connected in this taxi.
This taximeter is advantageously prevented from functioning if such identification proves that this taximeter is not the one which was calibrated for this taxi.
The invention also relates to a device for carrying out this process, applied to a taxi equipped to receive said extractable taximeter, characterized in that said circuit memory is wired on that part which remains permanently fixed on the vehicle, and in that at least one connection of this circuit memory is connected to the taximeter and typically to the central processing unit, or xe2x80x9cC.P.U. xe2x80x9d, of said taximeter.
This circuit memory is advantageously protected by a box sealed on the vehicle.
Said connection of the circuit memory is advantageously connected to the taximeter via a connector which, on removably receiving the extractable taximeter, allows this taximeter to be connected to the battery of the vehicle, and/or to the distance sensor, and/or to the roof sign.
According to a particular embodiment, said circuit memory is another processing unit which is different from the central processing unit of the taximeter.
The electrical wires which connect this circuit memory to said taximeter are advantageously wires which already exist for other purposes in the electrical circuit of the vehicle, in connection with the functioning of its taximeter, for example the wire or wires used for controlling the lamps of the roof sign, typically of the xe2x80x9cfreexe2x80x9d lamp and/or of the tariff light repeater normally placed on the vehicle roof, and/or the wire or wires coming from the sensor detecting the number of wheel revolutions.